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All articles here are written by Melinda Briana Epler (that's me!) unless otherwise noted. I'm a documentary filmmaker, writer, and brand experience designer - I've dedicated my life to living a sustainable lifestyle and helping others do the same. Please feel free to contact me if you have questions or thoughts for articles. Welcome!

Adopting a Roundabout – Part 2

Orphan Roundabout, March 2009

Back in February (was it that long ago?!), I wrote about our Sustainable Capitol Hill gardening plan. One part of that plan is to adopt a neglected roundabout in our neighborhood. It’s symbolic more than anything: it helps beautify the neighborhood, inspires people to garden, and it is a bit of advertising for us as a group, so we can get more people involved in what we’re doing.

After our tour, we inquired about four roundabouts (also known as “traffic circles) at the city’s Department of Transportation. And a wonderful thing happened! The woman from the city called the four people registered to take care of each of these roundabouts. Two of them called back and said, “no, don’t give it away!” and proceeded to work on them immediately. Our call inspired them to take action, and those two roundabouts are now thriving!

Of the two that were still available, we decided to “beta test” one, to make sure we had the time and resources to adopt it effectively. As an aside, I will say that a project like this, though small, takes three busy people to make happen (or one less-busy person). Fortunately, three of us stepped up to the plate to organize this at one point or another, and we made it happen.

So on Memorial Day, five of us met at 9:30 am to plant the circle!

At our Family Allotment, you may remember that my mother and I have been slowly replacing ornamentals with edible food plants. Well, we’ve been setting aside several of the more drought-resistant plants for the roundabout. So my job was to bring the plants. Guillaume’s job was to bring the compost. With tools we all brought from home, Alexis, Anne, Ariel, Guillaume, and I set to work!

Weeding the Roundabout (photo taken from my phone’s camera)

We knocked on a neighbor’s door and asked to borrow his hose. He was more than happy with what we were doing, and helped us stretch it down to the street, where we used a bucket to carry it across to the roundabout.

After several months of neglect, our roundabout was absolutely COVERED with weeds. As we started in on the weeds, a family drove past and stopped, rolling down their window: “We just wanted to say, thank you for what you’re doing,” they said.

Pretty soon, another driver did the same. Then a bicyclist. Then two passers-by stopped to watch. One even took pictures. As we progressed, more and more people stopped to say thank you. It was incredible. In the two hours we were there, at least 20 people thanked us for what we were doing.

And a woman bicycling by stopped and asked if we’d like some of her irises. She’ll be bringing 3 types of irises from her garden in the next few days! She also said she’d also help keep an eye on the watering and such, since she bicycles past every day.

Here’s what our roundabout looks like now:

Adopted Roundabout, May 2009

Even the finches and pigeons are happy with it. And with the irises coming, and some donations from our local nursery, we’ll be adding some nice color soon.

I wish that people were that concerned about the plants here. We have urban sprawl and no one seems worried. The only ‘good’ news about the economy though is that it has seemed to slow a bit–nobody seems to be able to get financing to build new structures.

Does anybody know if the economy is good overall for the environment or not? It seems like there is less pollution since there are less factories belching out yuck.

What on earth is the purpose of neighborhood round abouts? I understand the genius of constructing them at busy intersections; but they drive me mad in residencial neighborhoods. Nevertheless, it’s nice that people got together to make improvements.

Monica, I have wondered that myself, and have heard mixed reports about it. I think it depends on how you look at it: less money means more people take public transportation, but it also means fewer funds for environmental organizations and energy retrofits. Though fortunately, the Obama administration is putting some money toward the latter to help stimulate the economy.

Maybelline, I believe these are to slow down traffic in residential areas, so cars don’t speed down them at the expense of our children’s safety. At least they are better (and prettier) than speed bumps!

Technically, that’s not a roundabout. It’s a neighborhood traffic calming circle. Roundabouts have yield signs at the entry and drivers must yield to vehicles already in the circle (approaching from the left). These circles are usually unmarked intersections, so drivers must yield to other cars who arrive first or are on their right.

The landscaping looks awesome. I’m not sure the rocks are a good idea, in case a car collides with them; but great job nonetheless!